I have been using the minimal iso (CentOS-6.0-x86_64-minimal.iso) to install CentOS 6. I wanted to add a GUI to my vm, but I could not find easy documentation showing how to add a GUI, or Gnome in this case, to a CentOS 6 minimal install. I was not looking for the smallest X windows install, I was just trying to get the Desktop to function like it would as if I installed from the full DVD.
There are a lot of results of how to do this, but things have been renamed in CentOS 6, so that made it more difficult to figure out. Also, there are “Short Names” and I am assuming they are called “Long Names” associated with a yum groupinstall, which added to my confusion.
To add Gnome/GUI to a minimal CentOS 6 install run (short name version):
yum groupinstall basic-desktop desktop-platform x11 fonts
And the “long name” version:
yum groupinstall "Desktop" "Desktop Platform" "X Window System" "Fonts"
Hope that helps someone or at least help me to remember.
I think the black boxes usually mean you are missing fonts. Look at you X start up logs and you should be able to find the fonts you are missing. Hope that helps.
“couldn’t resolve host ‘mirrorlist.centos.org’
Error: Cannot find a valid baseurl for repo: base
nice
I couldn’t get mines to work, I don’t know why.
I believe that this is an error with your DNS settings.
I have had that problem with a lot of sites. I don’t know how to work around it yet.
You also have more options to install
# yum -y groupinstall “Graphical Administration Tools”
# yum -y groupinstall “General Purpose Desktop”
# yum -y groupinstall “Office Suite and Productivity”
# yum -y groupinstall “Graphics Creation Tools”
from http://namhuy.net/475/how-to-install-gui-to-centos-minimal.html